#really really bad racism still

[aroaessidhe]

2023 reads // twitter thread

To Shape A Dragon’s Breath

YA fantasy

a young Indigenous girl finds & bonds with a dragon hatchling - the first time in many generations for her people - and is required to go to the coloniser’s dragon academy in their mainland city, to learn how to raise her dragon and the science of its magic

historical inspired setting on the cusp of industrial revolution with steampunk vibes

bi polyamorous MC, Black lesbian SC, nonverbal autistic SC

#To Shape A Dragon’s Breath #aroaessidhe 2023 reads #this is really really good i loved it! #the chapter titles are all like snippets of a story. or like sentence fragments that match up. which is cool #it is definitely more about being indigenous in a coloniser institution than Dragon School - not Super dragon heavy if you want that #I suspect the subsequent books will get into that when she gets big enough to ride and stuff #t’s also def YA! i’ve seen a few ppl assume it’s adult and be like its very young :( but like. I mean its perfectly reasonable for a 15yo m #definitely a Lot of racism and colonialism which is not fun to read! though it's still through a YA lens. there was def a part of me that #was imagining consequences of the narrative as if it were an adult novel #on that line of thought - at the end a lot of it is kind of solved by them going to the king and he's is like. oh no racism is happening? #that's bad i'll deal with those people! which felt like. a little simplistic. but maybe the easiest way to end the narrative for book 1 - #I don't think the author ACTUALLY is going to portray the king as a Good Guy throughout the series - it just felt conveniently like - #a simple YA solution to some very big and complex elements? if that makes sense? (but again - it is YA so it's allowed I suppose!) #some of the worldbuilding (like all the science learning) is probably setup for next books - we don’t really see any practical application #the romances are also subtle and not Overbearing In Book One which i like - leave some space for the series! #also her getting fanmail from a 10yo mixed race girl who looks up to her 🥺 #anyway. i really loved it! #oh also it reminded me a little of leviathan. i guess just the steampunk/time period/european culture.... #To Shape A Dragon's Breath

[will-pilled]

Just saw someone post "an article debunking all viv allegations" and it was shit hardly anyone is mad about anymore and they were like "oh it was a long time ago so it's fine."

#A lot of critics of her are extremely unfair but the racism claim 100% stands and THAT is what I have against her #that and her justifying weird shit her buddies do and people coming out saying she is abusive #and when someone says theyre being abused I fucking belive them. #she is 100% racist and so are a shit ton of her fans its genuinely an issue that is STILL going on. not just “a long time ago.” #Not sure about the trnasphobia because I dont know how long ago that was and people change #i myself was the transphobic republican to trans man pipeline. #But lets be fr for a second #anti vivziepop #vivziepop critical #vivziepop criticism #I really want to like her so bad bc shes so my childhood. I genuinely try to hard to defend her but some shit I cannot defend #hazbin critical #helluva critical

[mrsterlingeverything]

🙂

#on vacation with my family and its like im 16 again in a very bad way im like hooooooooly fucking shit #how the fuck did i put up with this #its like nonstop very negative judgemental comments like racism homophobia etc etc #like you really look at people this way? #and im like how did this affect me?? because i was just feeling it like the not acting any kind of way. and i still feel like i act very :) #around them like not acting any kind of way at all because of the comments. idk i am just seeing something i havent seen. #i was like really wanting to kill myself when i was 16 after we went on a road trip to nyc because of the homophobic comments. #went to a mental hospital immediately after and came out to them. one of the worst parts of my life. its just like they learned nothing

[hard--headed--woman]

i'm sorry but if you stop being a radfem because radblr disappointed you, you were never a radfem in the first place

#saying this because i saw someone saying that there were a lot of former radfems #and that many of them stopped being radfems because of radblr bullshit #like radblr racism or lesbophobia etc #and like. yeah there are many many fucked up things on radblr. racism and lesbophobia and a lot of other things #but if that makes you leave radical feminism then you were never really a radfem #because radical feminism isn’t only radblr. #if tomorrow i decided to leave radblr because of the fucked up things there i would still be a radfem and support radical feminism b #because radical feminism isn’t only radblr to me. there are books and events and docs #if you leave radical feminism at the same time you leave radblr because radblr disappointed you well you were never a radfem #because you did not support radical feminism or know radical feminism outside of radblr #and had no real convictions. #i don't know if it is clear lol. but you can still be a radfem while not being on radblr and radblr disappointing you doesn't mean the #feminism in itself is bad... if you really believed in radfem ideology you would not leave it just because of social medias

[be-the-glenn-to-my-maggie]

Hey, so I saw your post about some fics demonizing Neytiri. That has actually been one of my major fears as a fic writer, attempting to balance Neytiri's extremely valid trauma and the POV I'm writing from (that is typically flawed in some way). I was wondering, since you seem very well-versed on the topic, what do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri? Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted? Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

I really want to make sure I'm doing right by Neytiri and improve as a fic writer overall, so any advice you could offer would be very much appreciated!

Whoa, what a complicated and nuanced question. A great one! And I'm super flattered you came to me! Just one I'm going to try to answer to the best of my ability. I'm assuming you're referring to Norm's pov in your fic?

First of all, I do not want to at all proclaim to be an expert on generational trauma; I am not a person of color, and I have been lucky enough to have a very normal and healthy family. I just had a best friend growing up in an abusive household and took steps to educate myself best I could to understand the situation, which I believe anyone would do. So I'm just gonna try to word vomit out my thoughts for you, please ask questions or challenge any of what I say if any of you see anything you think is incorrect. Buckle in, this will be long.

What do you define as "demonizing" for Neytiri?

Demonizing means portraying someone as wicked or threatening, as evil or worthy of contempt and blame.

For me, demonizing for Neytiri is the trend I've seen lately of portraying her as this unyielding, animalistic type character who's hatred of humans, Spider specifically, goes so far that she gets physically violent with Spider and eventually ends up tearing apart her family. In these fics, Jake is always a sad sack loser bystander, loving his wife too much to step in but of course shamefully knowing how wrong what she's doing is. Infantilizing poor white savior Jake Sully, being brow beaten by his mean indigenous wife into neglecting a child is a weirdly strong take in this fandom. Often Mo'at is a wise elder chiding Neytiri for being unable to get over her prejudice. Mo'at and Jake understand Neytiri as much as anyone would, they wouldn't shame her. To me, it's an extremely reductive and frankly borderline racist characterization. When paired with a sympathetic view of Quaritch, it is at best irresponsible and at worst knowingly dangerous.

Neytiri is representative of an indigenous woman. I feel like I don't have to explain why making her violent, volatile, and completely unreasonable is a little bit of a harmful caricature. In these fics, for me, Neytiri ceases to be a person. She looses autonomy to sort of represent this monolith of hatred and prejudice that has hurt our little baby boy Spider. It's crazy to me that people can't apply the exact same empathy they have towards Spider (saving Quaritch) to Neytiri (not being able to trust Spider). They are the most foil of foil characters. Their storylines are extremely similar, if I'm being honest. Essentially, ignoring the fact that Neytiri is a member of a minority community being actively genocided by Spider's people is intentionally reductive. If you can empathize with Spider, and ESPECIALLY if you find Quaritch sympathetic, finding Neytiri's actions unforgivable is racism, plain and simple.

Also, side note, the lengths people go to where Neytiri just literally will not budge under any circumstances at all is INSANE.

(I read a fic the other day where she gave Spider to child protective services behind everyone's back. That's LUNACY. She only came around after she almost lost Tuk when Tuk was suddenly born prematurely and Mo'at came in and was like "Eywa made it so you can never have kids again because of what you did, have you learned your lesson yet?" Like?? I do not understand the HATRED some of ya'll have for her, the suffering you all think she deserves. She's having an EXTREMELY NORMAL trauma reaction to surviving GENOCIDE? Examine yourselves greatly).

But where I was going was Neytiri is the same character who pushed her parents to let them go to human school, fell in love with human Jake, defended him and trusted him despite her family, mated with him and lost her religious position because of it, and then had a bunch of part human kids with him, and adopted a fully freak of nature kid born of a human she loved and respected. She has human friends, she wears and uses human tech, and she forgave Jake after he had betrayed them. Basically what I'm saying is Neytiri, despite her continuous trauma, is the most open and curious and non traditional Na'vi of all time. Girl is READY to meet new people and learn new shit, and to be open to everyone. Sometimes I think about a no trauma Neytiri and I get emotional. I think it's crazy to say she would never budge on Spider, if it wasn't for his dad I'm pretty sure she would've softened lonnnnng ago, if not having liked him from the get go.

Um, that got way too long I have too many thoughts. Second half of your question.

Is it ok to write from a perspective where a character doesn't really like or trust her, as long as the trauma is noted?

This is a tricky question, because technically there is nothing you can't do as a writer. Of course, it also means there is nothing anyone can't criticize you for writing. Like, Colleen Hoover can say she's writing realistic depictions of domestic abuse until the cows come home, I'm still going to say she's romanticizing and normalizing it in a super callous way. Neither of us can stop the other. So yeah, of course you're okay to write from the perspective of a character that doesn't like Neytiri. I just think the point will be what your prerogative is. One of my MFA professors says it in a way I like and I'm sure I've referenced before, if you aren't trying to make a point about something that might have to have a trigger warning then don't include it. I always say I would take it a step further; if your point is to defend that thing, don't do it. So for me, my big points would be try not to project my own feelings onto the character either way; if the character is wrong about something and the narrative intends to show that they will either learn, or we the reader will grow past them. But to be sure what you feel the takeway of the piece is is what you wanted it to be, I guess.

Do you have any resources so I can educate myself to properly write this kind of character?

Well, I have a few on white writers writing BIPOC characters and the ethics of that if you're interested in that. But I don't have any on specifically writing generational trauma. I guess I'd say reading and absorbing are my biggest tools; so reading books/watching movies or TV that use the speculative to translate generational trauma, and learning about and taking in the real life examples the character is based on. Read up on some genocides, and indigenous people today and how their lives are still affected. Even just watch the news; we're witnessing a very public genocide being pushed right to our attention right now. And of course, that is not the only genocide happening rn, it's just the only one we're talking about, so there's plenty of real world case studies unfortunately right in front of us.

#this got way way too long #it's almost midnight and i still have work tomorrow #i was goING to answer a few asks during amazing race tonight and instead #just this #lol #my bad #hope this helps! feel free to ask or dm with any questions or grievances haha #keep in mind i am not an expert! #i am just someone who likes knowing things and is really annoying about consuming ethically #anyways spider fandom i need u to lay off my girl #fandom criticism of bipoc characters is somehow always a little rooted in racism #but that's because we've all got internalized racism my friends and we cannot escape it without daily intentional thought and conversation #neytiri sully #miles spider socorro #spider socorro #spider sully #jake sully #jeytiri #mo'at #miles quaritch #tuktirey sully #norm spellman #avatar #avatar the way of water #james cameron avatar #melissa og #melissa on avatar (cameron) #melissa is an english major

[darling-valentine]

every now and then I remember that time my transfem friend and I were talking about her trauma and her transition and suddenly she said "but yeah you didn't go through any of that because trans men don't get harassed or bullied and have it overall easier" and I just felt so deeply upset at how she just assumed all the pain I went through couldn't exist because I somehow had it easier. I didn't even say anything because I didn't want her to think I was angry at her, because if I do then suddenly I'm an Angry Man that's exaggerating

#not to mention im latino and she's white #how can you say 'yeah you didn't suffer bullying' to a latino neurodivergent trans man that you've known is mentally unwell for years #maybe its because she idolizes me a lot but please i just want people to see me like a person and not like some concept they can define #also it's really sad seeing people say 'trans men have it easier' like I didn't get beat up and socially and psychologically bullied #ever since i came to Spain because of racism and homophobia and transphobia and ableism and every form of bigotry you can think #and even to this day i still have to deal with all that #even when i think im safe I'm never really safe for one reason or another #and being a man doesn't make me any less vulnerable #valentine.txt #valentime #sorry for the rant gamers I'm still upset and i haven't talked about it to her because I don't want her to feel bad

[randomnameless]

The impression I got from his Byleth support was that Claude was angry at Fodlan for not living up to his expectations. He came to Fodlan seeking to learn something he could use to change Almyra's mindset, believing Fodlan would be more accepting of "outsiders" and when he found Fodlan had a negative view of Almyra he got upset and blamed the Church. Part of his story in Wind is him realizing he jumped to conclusions and blamed the Church without getting to know what they really stood for, being confronted with his own prejudice.

Part of his story in Wind is him realizing he jumped to conclusions and blamed the Church without getting to know what they really stood for, being confronted with his own prejudice.

Imo, he still doesn't totally get over those conclusions and prejudice especially in the Billy S-support :

And I...I want a ruler who can lay down a new set of values for the people. Values that don't exclude anyone for being different.

But yes, in this support, he also mentions having to go to Almyra to change his homeland for the better.

I see which support you're talking about, iirc it's the A support, right?

He confesses he came to Fodlan wanting to prove Almyra that Fodlan people weren't cowards, but ultimately found out people in Fodlan were as biased and prejudiced as the Almyrans are.

So his plan is to bring a "new set of values" to Fodlan and expand them to the rest of the world - so first start to bring his "new set of values" in Fodlan, and then bring them to Almyra to... destroy prejudice existing in Almyra.

Sure, why not, but bar the inherent "sus-ness" of bringing new "set of values" to a place - never once in those supports Claude reveals that the equivalent of Almyran calling Fodlaneses "cowards" is Fodlanese people calling Almyrans "brutes/barbarians" - sure, when he was a kid younger in Almyra, he used his mom as an example of why everyone in Fodlan wasn't a coward - but obviously we don't have in VW any situation where he'd try to tell Hilda and whoever in the Alliance that Almyrans aren't "savages/brutes/barbarians" to fight against their own prejudiced views...

The only sort of situation I can see this happening is apparently, off-screen, when Judith reveals that Holst and Nader got drunk together and became BFFs.

All Almyrans aren't brutes and barbarians - and yet, when we see some acting like the racist stereotypes the Gonerils depict them as, Claude doesn't pop up to say a thing. The best we can have is, iirc, him saying something like "we can let past grudges influence our decisions now" when Lorenz and Hilda are kind of arguing with the intensity of a wet paper against the inclusion of Almyrans in the army - completely oblivious to the fact (or maybe it was an oversight from the devs?) that Hilda's paralogue could be unlocked/played 3 minutes earlier, so we're not talking about past events and a long history of raids that have stopped, but about very present events : those raids exist.

In a nutshell, I agree with anon about the WTF of Claude's plan and general arc in VW - even if he shows progress and lets go, as much as the game allows anyone to do so - his hatred of the CoS - he's basically asking Fodlan, the victim, to stop being so prejudiced against people raiding for funsies and open their borders to the same people raiding them for funsies, and only after this, he will ask the people raiding for funsies to stop raiding for funsies because the people the raiders call "cowards" don't fucking want to die in what is generally seen as a dick measuring context.

Even post VW, Claude is still prejudiced, not as much as he was in the pre TS and ultimately Nopes lol, against Fodlan, expecting to change and have a new set of values "first" before bringing the values of not excluding people because they are different to Almyra.

And IMO, this is even more bonkers when you realise this S-support happens after Rhea's infodump, aka after the infodump where she reveals that the people opposing the war mongering ones with nukes were genocided - you don't ask the randoms/victims to play nice with their abusers, and expect said abusers to play nice too because you ask them.

Maybe it's a bad faith reading, but the ending illustration has Claude try to mediate or sign a treaty between, on one side, people with spears, and on the other side, people with armors (who look resigned, but maybe it's just the artstyle) and no weapons that are heavily implied to be from Fodlan.

And fun fact, now that i'm looking at them - we see Billy - aka the Church - in AM and SS, but we don't see them in CF and VW... We only see Alliance Lords - but no King/Queen Billy of Fodlan in sight.

Did he really change his POV about the Church, or not?

#fantasyinvader #at least compared to Nopes Claude he tries to reconsider #even if it doesn't amount to a lot #bcs in the end he still thinks Billy can bring the don't be racist values to Fodlan #suggesting 'be racist" values existed even if he is supposed to have realised the contrary #and the lack of the CoS in the end is striking like wtf #seriously #still i can get his story is part him realising he was wrong and yet FE16 can't really let go the Rhea BaD Church BaD red herring #so claude realising the CoS wasn't the reason why people hated foreigners while still sort of thinking they are is fitting enough #of course a sensible story would be to try to understand why fodlan doesn't like foreigners #and that means tackling the constant raids #but we can't have that #Claude can make roundabout claims about the doctrine of the church and racism and what not #but cannot face Almyrans raiding for fun #so his entire arc and resolution feels very empty and imo artificial #where's the growth if you close your eyes to one of the sources of the issue you're trying to solve? #FE16

[floralovebot]

ik i call out winx fans here a lot for racism but like,, the fan space here is genuinely so much better than any other social media. i've been looking at winx edits on tiktok and holy shit they're all so fucking mean?? every single comment section is just full of people complaining about how much they hate Insert Character Here, there's constant fighting between the editors, so much misinformation,,, its so bad!! even though there are people here who aren't as fond of certain characters, they mostly keep it to themselves and at the very least don't fight with other fans about it. like,, the fandom here is just full of really creative people who bonded over liking winx, which is what fandom should be, but the tiktok teens turned it into some pissing contest about which character is better. i'm so glad fans here aren't like that god it'd be so miserable

#like the only real issue is racism here #which still bad but at least its mostly just that #everywhere else like tiktok twitter instgram is full of racism And kids fighting each other #OO it's bad y'all #why are they like that ??? #like i dont understand aljdgjkda #also the hypocrisy when defending their faves while bashing other characters for the same thing #oo i hate flora she's so weak oh but you can't say that about bloom the writers just nerfed her for plot reasons!! #ooo i hate bloom all she does is complain about her life but musa really should talk about her mom more than she already does!! #like its so miserable #theyre All cuties why pit bad bitches against each other !! #its so weird like ive seen multiple accounts dedicated to just being bitchy about a certain character #dont they have school or something 😭

[ladystoneboobs]

got prequels on the brain lately, and i think i can explain padme in rots, even if it might not be exactly what lucas was thinking of. see, it's not just that she loves her husband and wants to believe there must be still be some good in him, it's also that she is now not just anakin's wife, but the mother of his child(ren) too. like, literally about to pop right as obi-wan/yoda have decided anakin needs to be killed. she doesn't feel she can stay on coruscant anymore as a senator under the emperor's reign, she was already doubting doing that job as a working mom. then she learns the jedi have all been deemed traitors and their order outlawed, while she's carrying offspring very likely to be highly force sensitive since the force itself is pretty much the paternal grandfather there. so, she herself is a potential political target as someone who opposed palpatine's war efforts from the beginning in a more public way than bail organa or mon mothma, and her child(ren) would also be targeted just for existing as potential jedi before ever really using the force against the empire. being a single mom to outlawed and untrained but very powerful l'il jedi while the both of you are being targeted and hunted down on the run/in exile without the skills really needed to protect any jedi child, that's just a no-go. her only anti-palps and anti-anakin alternatives would have to include never being a mother after giving birth, whether going into exile alone somewhere or wearing a mask and playing the long game like bail organa. (even if he still adopted leia as in otl, how much time could she really spend with her without drawing more suspicion from palps? how painful would it be to watch someone else raise your child while possibly never even knowing if your other child is ok?) in that sense, knowing how wanted that unplanned pregnancy was, is it any wonder that she chose to make a last attempt to save their family instead? to run away with her husband, who happened to be the only man strong and powerful enough to protect them all from the empire, the only man she could trust and wanted to trust, with the safety of their whole unsplit secret little family. so it is only after he refuses to run away with her, when he insists that he's only interested in using his new dark powers to protect her, and when he reveals that his only idea of defying palpatine is to replace him, making padme into a new dark empress, a dictator rather than the public servant she once thought she could be, only then that she starts feeling he may just be lost to her after all. but when you've gone so far together already, brushing off his first massacre, marrying him mere days later, and then truly tying yourself to him permanently through pregnancy, it's really too late to ever go back to your ol' "normal" life either.

#padme amidala #anakin skywalker #star wars #you call this a diplomatic solution? #gffa meta #STAR WARS NOTHING BUT STAR WARS #(c)lsb #real people in bad marriages have stayed together 'for the kids' with less reason behind it and some w similar reasons #i mean i still think her reaction to the tusken massacre can only be explained with some fantastic racism #and she also seems a little too enabling of his other crimes until they affect her #but this is really just about explaining her willingness to salvage their marriage after his turn and why she would not want him killed #much less ever kill him herself #it seems so obvious once i set it all out but people never really talk about it this way ime #we've all been blinded by the dying of heartbreak ending which i do think was what was really on gl's mind #it does remind me of headcanons concerning another beautiful brunette young lady who was heavily preggo when her lover fought his last duel #minus the dying of heartbreak not childbirth and prettyboy slaughtering l'il kids ofc

[volfoss]

as a guy that loves getting into obscure media that like. maybe 5 people talk about now. it is interesting the difference between consuming media that is SUPER popular and everyone loves your fave (a curse i would never wish upon anyone. the posts will never be good) and a media that like. there is NO ONE actively posting about. it has barely any fan presence online. and honestly its kind of peaceful

#twist rambles #like. being into the wit/cher books and games and show (the good one. the hexer) was a hellish experience. there was such isnane shipping o #that old man everywhere. there were 5 million bad takes. there were ibs whump fics (which is a plus. more of those should exist). #and it was just like. 50 million incorrect characterizations of my faves. it made me a bit insane. but then irt vol/foss and gan/gsta #its like. peaceful silence. like gan/gsta actually well. has like a minor audience i just have a lot of the tag blocked bc racism is insane #esp when ur like wow ^-^ would love if this complexly written black character was treated half as nicely as the popular guy in that media. #it does not happen. but w vol/foss. there is NOTHING on ao3 (good for me due to loving to torture myself and friends w bad fanfic) and mayb #five posters in the tumblr tag. like NO ONE is really actively playing this that ik of. even on the jp side there hasnt been a ton of #interest for A DECADE. but its weirdly peaceful other than i CANNOT talk to anyone whos played it and go insane over how well its written #its so dire that ive contemplated emailing the person who made a rly helpful fansite back in. 2004 or earlier. and being like hi. thank you #nearly 20 years later lmao. like im glad both of those medias arent super popular BUT it does mean i rly have to make all the content for i #or pester chris for 5 million hours as im in the vol/foss agony mines. but all of that to be said. popular media is such a hellhole for fan #content most of the time. so its been weirdly nice to just be peacefully vibing. even w f/e im still on shadow dragon so its VERY like ok i #care abt this old man that everyone else doesnt like so i can just. peacefully exist.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

about 90% of my brain runs solely on associations and one of the worst ones i have is when im playing the sims 4 and trying to pick out a blue chair.

because way back when (2018ish), i was watching a documentary on jonestown, called jonestown: the life and death of the peoples temple, while playing the sims 4 because adhd brain. and as i was trying to pick out a blue chair for a bedroom, there was a lady (i think her name was june) talking about how she got involved with the peoples temple, and it was quite memorable so association formed immediately.

so now, anytime im trying to pick out a blue chair in the sims 4, i just remember her explaining that her mother-in-law was in need of a new pet monkey, because her previous monkey had hung itself, so she looked in the newspaper for a new monkey and found jim jones selling monkeys, and so her mother-in-law meets him about the monkey and he invites her to his church, and at no point does she indicate that any part of this story is weird which is besides the point but bears mentioning in my brain.

#kai rambles #tw animal death #tw cults #(please tell me if anything else needs a trigger warning) #also btw #they were still in indiana at this point back when jim jones' church was about hey racism and segregation is bad #like originally his church's ideals were about that and the church was open to anyone and jim jones and his wife were the first white family #to adopt a black child in indiana #i always feels the need to mention it because i dont think many people know and its not really something you can pretend didnt happen #but anyway they were still in indiana so like #did 1950s indiana newspaper often have monkey adverts in them? #also why did jim jones have monkeys? #the whole monkey thing isnt focussed on at all in the documentary - and rightfully so - but fuck does it make my brain spin

[spaghett-onaplate]

kinda wish this one guy was gay

#he's my least politically correct friend but he has a good heart #like today one of our classmates said he's improved a lot since becoming friends with me and is so much nicer now #bc his old friendgroup was fucking nasty bro they still are idk #it's all 'jokes' until it's not apparently they were pretty racist to him #i mean they were asian too but east asian and he's indian. so like racism or colourism? idk but either way awful #and obv i'm not racist so being around i and a few other different nicer people has done wonders for him #and like he initiated friendship with me straight away like he wanted to do better and can do better and has been doing better #he still has a few off jokes but i just don't humour them #and it's all just from a place of insecurity that so many teenage boys have #and he really does have a good heart i think he can continue to grow and improve #and we are just friends and becoming closer friends but like. dayum sometimes i am struck by his beautiful face #embarrassing but it's fine to have a little crush on all of your friends i think #and we played basketball today (i mostly watched) and he's so good at it like bro idk #i hope he doesn't move schools like he might (he lives really far away) bc i wanna see where this goes #friendship wise. bc i believe in him he can become a very nice person he has great potential #i can fix him guys (he has made choices to better himself and really i have little impact but i think i am helping and i'm glad) #and yeah he's just HOT my gawd #and i like breaking bad and he started watching breaking bad !!

[lesbianjudasiscariot]

some of yall are so desperate to be misogynistic on this site

#like a woman is kinda mean about a man once and yall act like it justifies centuries of misogyny #like did yall forget sexism plagues our world and that it is still an issue to this day #i feel like this comes from most people on this site consider it the highest form of political activism to watch certain media #there is defiantly an issue of racism too #like i feel like yall don't really take the time to consider 'cultural standards'* #which leads to bad actions that at best can be explained with ignorance but even that is not enough #* i feel like there is a better word but i can not think of it #my thoughts are so jumbled maybe ill make a better post later or just delete this one #idk #ily #♡

[edelorion]

#edel vents #disclaimer: really personal issues in the tags. also wishes of death upon others. this is PROBABLY too much information tbh... #so if you're not up for it scroll down fast!!!! the deluge is coming!!! #today was... eventful. bad. also very bad. grandma's birthday celebration was today #and while she... definitely has Old People Issues (racist) shes also very lonely since the death of my grandfather so i can't really not go #i'm the only one who really visits her regularly to begin with #aside from the... very serious racism issue... she's “alright”. i guess. but that's besides the point. there's family there #and among those... my parents. which i don't like to talk to #discovered they threw more of my old stuff away. typical. wanted to strangle them. as usual. #had to “talk” with my mother (read: spend approximately ten seconds reciting exactly why i *don't* talk to her anymore) #so that whole ordeal completely soured my mood. #went home tired. can't really do anything right now. #at least the food was good i guess. but i also really want to cry... which i can't. which sucks. #...i really like to think i've improved as a person. i used to be really hateful of everything and everyone #worst of all myself. still kinda do but i'm... getting better..? #i like to think i've grown past most of it but every time i see my parents i feel this gripping at my heart. as if i haven't really changed #as if instead i'm still the hateful person i “always was” deep down... bc there's this visceral joy that i feel whenever i'm mad at them. #when i looked at my mother and told her how much i despise her i felt a shiver of happiness. righteousness. #to be clear: i do NOT care for her. at all. she's the worst person on this earth #and the only person whom my philosophy of “nobody deserves to die” does NOT apply to. i'm not scared of hating her. #she genuinely deserves this. but...every time i see my parents - and thus her... i feel as if i'm slipping back into that mindset of hatred #i don't want that. not anymore. it consumed me whole. i was a horrible person back then and i've caused so much grief for so many #i can't let go of this hatred. i can't forgive them. they don't deserve my forgiveness anyway. but i'm tired of hating. #i'm tired of letting that hatred define me. i'm tired of letting that hatred direct me. i'm tired of letting it bring me to ruin. #i'm tired of being who i was. i'm no longer “that”. i'm edel now and i'm happy for people now. if i don't like something i just walk out. #i can just leave. “if it sucks hit the bricks” right?.. but i didn't. i had to say it. i had to tell them. her. and i liked it. #and... i'm scared of that. because it tells me i haven't improved. #i'm not sure what i'm expecting out of posting this i guess. maybe help. maybe i wanna be told that this is normal or something. #maybe i just want to get my thoughts in order. i don't know. i'm gonna stop writing now. #sorry for making you read all this. thanks for doing it anyway. tags were cut off on this one btw so it may look like a mess. but. yeah.

[yioh]

genshin player’s switch up on sumeru characters will haunt me forever honestly i’ve never seen such a large amnt of people act so utterly fake in such a small period of time😭

#everyone really pretended they cared abt the colourism and racism HNDBDJXBXXJ #sumeru as a whole still makes me feel so uncomfy to this day with the weird ass storyline and colourism and whitening of several characters #but now everyone is just fawning over how sexy al haitham and kaveh are or how cute nahida is like #😭 idk man i can’t stand it #it annoys me soooooooooooo much #even worse how sumeru characters are plastered all over my social media everywhere #the switch up of how big of a deal everyone made the sumeru design reveal to be at the start only for their banners and character popularity #to be some of the highest ones #like . likeeeeee ………….. #feels so gross #anyways rant over i’m gonna stay in my lil mondstadt liyue bubble forever lol #not that those nations are perfect either but at least it isn’t tinged with the feeling of disgust towards fans 😭 #also the amount of racism and colourism i saw people blatantly show with the release of sumeru was so crazy it makes my skin crawl #anyways i rly hate like 99% of sumeru ships and i don’t get how everyone can just brainlessly enjoy this region’s characters at all #esp when they are all SO white it bugs me to no end in hate it i hateeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee #still so disappointed with kaveh’s design especially i think he was my last straw #i was hoping so bad he wouldn’t be some basic white bitch but he came out looking like btec howl PLEASE 🤨 #and the way everyone loves him just makes me hate him more lmfaooo #the most basic and boring design in the whole world it makes me feel Nothing at all

[leonardalphachurch]

also to be clear like… i wasn’t making a grand statement i was making an offhand comment in the tags of a post. i’ve wanted to actually talk about the depiction of tucker’s tattoos in the fandom for a while but i’ve found it difficult to word it in a way that wouldn’t get people to react like anon did. and so when i saw a post of someone already expressing basically what i was trying to say, though in a much more general sense, i figured i’d just reblog it with a simple comment and trust that my followers would know me well enough to trust that my full opinion was much more nuanced than could be expressed in a kind of jokey two sentence tag on someone else’s post.

because like. there’s a long history of tattoos, especially face tattoos, being associated with criminality. and while i don’t think a single artist’s intention with drawing tucker with tattoos is to call forth that association it is still soemthing to be cognizant of. and when i talk about “vague tribal-esque tattoos” i’m talking about designs that give tucker these meaningless random squiggles that call to mind an “exotic” feel that many non-polynesians, especially white people, associate with being “tribal” tattoos. in reality, of course, actual tribal tattoos have very specific cultural meanings that aren’t just the cool looking symbols that are like. this is the first result of “tribal tattoo” on google images:

if you want to tell me you have not seen many tucker designs with basically the same design philosophy as these have then i will tell you that you are lying.

and if you have a question of like, how do i not design tattoos that fall into this trap, then i would say to like, give meaning and intention to the design? whether or not you think the sword automatically gave him the tattoos or if they were given to him by the sangheili, they would realistically be of GREAT religious significance. if you want inspiration i shared an example of the sangheili script but i would look at designs of the stylings and architecture and symbols used by the sangheili, the covenant, maybe even the forerunners. you can look to the design of the sword and extrapolate around that, using the shape to create more designs and symbols that follow the same design philosophy of it but like. they should have meaning to them. there should be a reason that these designs were the ones that were chosen to be put on tuckers body.

not only will doing this prevent you from falling into “vague cool looking tribal symbols” you’ll also get a design that’s much more unique, much more interesting, and much more meaningful.

#also i’m not saying that every design of tuckers tattoos have this problem. if that’s how you want to interpret me then you’re addicted to #bad faith readings and i would recommend taking a step back from online discourse #this isn’t rebloggable because i still don’t really want this to be like. my ‘take’ #and like straight up i will say that i have way more knowledge when it comes to anti black and #(south)east asian racism than i do about anti indigenous and polynesian racism #and if i were to say something i’d want to do way more research than i currently have #to be clear i’m not like. ignorant. i am confident in this statement and highly doubt it would change drastically with further research #but there’s a difference between being confident enough in a statement to express it and confident enough to have it spread outside of your #control. ykwim?